ABSENT LANDLORD

Steven and I were sitting on the back deck, quietly enjoying the evening, when I noticed a tiny house finch had landed on our feeder. “Aren't they the cutest little birds?” I asked Steven.

Steven looked over at our feeder. “I guess.” he said as he shrugged his shoulders. “I hadn't really thought about rating birds by their cuteness.”

I looked over at our two bird houses. “I wonder why no one has wanted to move in to our houses this year?” I watched as the little finch finished eating and flew over and landed on the roof of the closest house. “Watch.” I said. “He won't even peek in the door.” A few seconds later he flew away. “See I told you.”

“I wonder what's wrong with them?” Steven got up to check.

I was right behind him. “I loved watching last year's family. You could hear the babies peeping for food all the way up on our porch.”

We reached the first house. “Well, I can see from here this one needs a new roof.”

I started to laugh. “That's a good one.”

Steven pointed to half inch space between the two pieces of wood that made up the roof. “Oh, it does need a new roof!” I cried. “I thought you were kidding!”

Steven examined the roof further. “It's just two screws holding this, I can fix it tomorrow.”

“Great!”

We moved on to the next house. Steven peeked into the hole. “There's a lot of old nesting material inside. Aren't you suppose to empty it out?”

I looked at him confused. “I don't know. I never really thought about it. I guess I just thought they'd use the old stuff and add a few new sticks to make it their own.” I took my phone out of my pocket and began a Google search on taking care of bird house. “Oh, good Lord!” I cried. “We’re slumlords for birds!”

“What?”

“We're suppose to get rid of the old nesting material each season and scrub the house out with a solution of bleach and water!” I looked at Steven, feeling a wave of guilt come over me. “We've had these houses for a few years now and we've never done that.” I admitted.

“You didn't know.” Steven said I could hear the sympathy in his voice. “Give yourself a break. You're not a slumlord, you're more of an absent landlord.”

“Thanks, but somehow that doesn’t make me feel any better.”

Steven went back to the other house to take some measurement for the roof. “I'll fix this roof and you can clean them both out.” he suggested. “We still have some time. You haven't lost the nesting season yet.”

That made me feel a little better. “Maybe you're right. I'll go make up the cleaning solution right now.” I headed for the house.

“I haven't seen the hummingbirds lately.” Steven called to me. “When was the last time your made a new batch of food for them?”

That made me stop. I looked at the feeder hanging from the back deck. “Um-mm, maybe last week?” I said.

“Isn't it supposed to be changed a few times a week?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I hesitated for a moment, looking at his sheepishly, “I kind of forgot.”

Steven just shook his head as I turned and headed back to the house.

I can't be positive, but I'm pretty sure I heard him say, “Slumlord.” under his breath.